Not the bad guy
by liliaeth
Summary: Buffy goes dark (companion to Into the dark)
1. Interview with the Slayer

Title: Not the Bad Guy  
Author: Lore  
Rating: PG13  
Summary: Buffy goes dark  
Category:darkfic

Location: Sunnydale police station.

"Please sit down."  
Sounds of wood scraping stone while the recorder starts taping.  
"Miss Summers...  
We are here for the events yesterday evening at your home on ... Revello Drive is it?"

"Yes."

"Tell us what happened?" A breath of air as the question is put.

"Nothing, I ..."

"What happened?! What happened Summers?" A second voice, harsher, more demanding.

A loud bang as a fist hits the table.  
"It's none of your business."

"Miss Summers please tell us what happened from your point of view. "  
The calm voice again.

The sound of clothes rustling.

"I was home late, I'd been walking, getting some fresh air.  
When I got home, Dawn wasn't there."  
A deep gasp of air and a moment of silence.

Slight hissing in the background.  
"I'd told her ... told her to stay home and do her homework after she got home from school, but when I got home, she wasn't there. She never listens...

"Go on"

"I sat down and I waited for her. I called some of her friends, talked to their parents. I sat down some more, and ..."  
The sound of tapping on wood.  
"I startled up when I finally heard her come in. It was already two o'clock.  
I was ready for excuses or a stealthy entrance, but she didn't even do that. She just came in.  
Anything could have happened to her. And she came in, laughing, yelling her goodbeyes to some guys in the car. Seniors, too old for her. She's not even sixteen yet."

"And?" The second voice, it's clearly male.

"I told her to go to her room, that she was grounded.  
A crackle on the tape as no sound came through.  
"Don't look at me like that! I'm not the bad guy here, she made me do it. She knew I was stressed out... with work and things. All I wanted was to come home and sit down and rest. Maybe a bit of help, some chores done, being in on time at the very least. It's all I wanted from her."

"So that's why you did it. Cause she didn't do what you tell her to."  
The man again. Clearly doubtful.

"I told her and she started yelling at me and my head was cracking up. And it hurt. "

"I understand you had trouble at work?"  
The first voice.  
A rustling of papers.  
"Miss Summers."

An answer remains forthcoming.

"Miss Summers?"

"I went upstairs, holding on to the railing and I opened her door."  
Deep breathing.  
"Her music was on, probably bothering the neighbours. Willow was out and I ... I told her to put it off. She yelled at me again."

"To leave her alone?"

"Yes."

"Miss Summers, this is not the first time something like this..."  
A fist hitting the table, wood cracking.

"Don't you dare..." Clear sound of threat.  
"Ted hit me! I just hit back. It wasn't my fault. I didn't... I didn't want him to fall."

"Miss Summers, please calm down. We are not accusing you of anything. I just need to know the facts."

"And I didn't. " A soft sob in her voice. "He was evil, soulless. It wasn't me, it wasn't ..."

"Miss Summers what happened in that room?" Calm, articulate. Every word released slowly and under controll, almost kind.

"I didn't mean for it to happen! You believe that right? Please, I'd die for her, I allready did."

"Miss Summers..."

"I told her again, to put the music down. She got up as well.  
I told her she couldn't stay out that late. That it got me worried, that she couldn't.

She just looked at me ... you know. Glaring at me, defying me. It's all his fault, he taught her that. She..."

" "

"I told her... I said... I just wanted her to listen."

"Is that when you hit her?" Demanded by the male voice.

"I didn't mean to!

She just wouldn't listen. It's not my fault. She should have listened to me. I was just trying to protect her."

"So you hit her again?"

"Miss Summers?" The first voice.

The man loses his patience, waiting for an answer.  
"Was she still looking at you from the floor, still defying you?"

"Yes." Another small sob breaks through.  
"She begged me to leave her alone, making false promises, telling me she'd be good, that she'd be home on time, that ...  
She kept looking at me. She never listens. I just wanted her to stop talking. All she had to do was stop talking."

Scratching of a pen on paper.

"Please tell me, where's Dawn. I need to see her, I need to tell her....  
I need to see my sister, why won't anyone tell me what happened to Dawn, where is she?

Where is she?!

Please.

I'm not the bad guy. I only wanted her to stop talking.

Please."


	2. Interview with the vampire

Location: Sunnydale police station

"Sir, what's your name?"

No response, a slight hint of someone shuffling a chair.

"My name?"

"Yes, sir."

"William - William Atherton."

"Mister Atherton, how did you get involved in the events at Revello Drive?"

Some tapping on the table. More shuffling.

"I'm a - I was. Me and Buffy we ... know one another."

"You were in a relationship with her?"

"No! Sort of. Bugger it, we used to have something. Just not"

"It was complicated?"

"Yes"

"Mister Atherton."

"Call me Spike, everyone does."

The flicker of a lighter clicking open.

"Yes, mister ... Spike. It's not allowed to smoke inside the building."

"Balls."

A rustle of paper.

"You were - acquainted with the youngest Summers as well?"

Silence.

  
"Spike, we know the neighbours claim you used to be a regular visitor at the Summers household only that your presence lessened over the course of last year?"

"I they used to let me baby-sit Dawn. After Buffy didn't think it would work for me to keep doing that."

"Why?"

"BuggerShe thought I was a bad influence I guess."

"A bad influence?"

Silence for a few moments.

"Uh, you know. Hanging out with the wrong crowd, didn't have much use for my friends. Guess she thought I'd keep Dawn up all night listening to Ramones and such things."

Another click of the lighter.

"She never did have an ear for music."

"Mister Atherton."

"It's Spike damn it! Spike."

"Spike when you came in, why did you head upstairs, leaving the door open?"

No response.

"The neighbours claim the only noise they heard was the music, so what made you head upstairs?"

"Well them bloody bastards weren't at the bloody door now were they?!"

Uncomfortable silence.

"I just heard something, thought I heard the bit, Dawn. I went upstairs and Buffy ... she was there, hitting Dawn. She loves that kid, she'd never harm her, only she was. I pulled her back and she looked at me as if I were the monster. What the bleeding hell was I supposed to do, can you tell me that? I love those girls and to find her like that. If she needed to let of steam she could use me, she could always use me. Why'd she have to hurt the bit?"

"So miss Summers had shown this kind of behaviour before."

Another few moments of silence.

"Mister Atherton."

"NO!!!" A beat. " She's normally the kindest woman you can find, well other than to ... She would never harm a human, it's not like her. It's not like her at all."

"Is it mister Atherton? I have a written testimony of how you were seen all bruised and battered only two months ago. Was that miss Summers as well. Were you allowing her to vent on you then?"

"Shut up, you don't have a clue, you don't have a frickin' clue, so just shut the bloody hell up!"

"Or maybe mister Atherton you wanted to make her pay, you wanted to punish her. And the only way to do that-"

"You're wrong."

"The only way to do that was hurt her in the worst possible way, by making her hurt the child, making her feel guilty. Is that what happened Mister Atherton?"

"HOW DARE YOU!"

A loud banging of something metallic hitting the floor. Then a low sound in between a snarl and a growl.

"I would fight heaven and hell from harming Dawn, no matter who attacked her. I love that girl, both of them."

Scared breathing.

A low shifting sound.

Something scraping the floor followed by a scream.

"God have mercy, please no, don't, I have a wife and three children, I can't please don't"

End of tape.

Added notes: -Officer McCarthney and officer Stevens are still refusing to report what happened  
-Due to lack of evidence, the SD authorities were forced to release mister Atherton


End file.
